Door or like lock



July 24, 1934. A. RILEY ET AL DOOR OR LIKE LOCK Filed March 24, 1954Patented July 24, 1934 )Ij Mrs-D:- s rAr qm orrics V 5 I 1,987,627 I Inoon on LIKE LOCK v Allan Riley and Harryltush, Coventry, EnglandApplica tionfMai-cha l, 1934, Serial N5. 717,244 In' Gr'eatBritain March23, 1 933 I 4 Claims. (01. 292-340) This invention relates to locks,particularly for ie doors of motor-vehicles, its main object being toprovide an improved lock which will be very flexible in action to allowof relative movement .5 between the members to be locked without anypossibility of them being opened except when one of the locking membersis appropriately turned.

The lock, according to the invention, includes movable spring-pressedjaws and a rotatable dowel with opposite notches in it to receive thejaws. Preferably the jaws are slidingly guided for movement to-and-froin one direction, and by making them wider somewhat than the cooperatingdowel provision can be made for allow- ..15 ing of this to moveto-and-fro relatively to the jaws in another direction.

In the accompanying drawing:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a door pillar and door, just open,fitted with a lock according 20 to the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the rotatable dowel, with the coverremoved.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the springpressed jaws detached fromtheir casing.

Fig. 4 is an inside view in perspective of the spring-pressed jaws.

In the construction illustrated, as applied to a door-lock for amotor-vehicle, the jaws 11, 12 are supported in a striker-plate 13secured to the door-post 14 and the rotatable dowel 15 is mounted on thedoor 16 and provided externally on a non-circular portion of its stemwith an operating handle 17. Conveniently this latter is formed. with ashoulder 18 engaging a coil spring 19 by which the dowel is biased tolie in a locking position in which the oppositely-arranged notches 20 init are either vertical or horizontal. These notches in the presentinstance are shown as being vertical ones when in the locking position,in

.4 which case the jaws are arranged, as illustrated,

for sliding in a horizontal direction. Any usual form of safety catch,such as the lever 21, may be provided, this co-acting with the handlefor example, with the lug 22 thereon, to prevent the handle from beingturned in an unlocking direction until the safety catch is released.

The form of striker-plate illustrated comprises two parts 13, 23 boltedor otherwise secured to one another with the jaws slidingly supportedbetween them. One of these 11 is shown as being an end wall of a hollowrectangular part, the other jaw 12 being formed on a part mounted withinthe rectangle. Each of these jaw parts has a laterally-extending lug 24between which is disposed a compression spring 25 acting to bias thelugs apartv and therefore the jawstowards one another. They areprevented from engaging each other by stops 26, formed on the twoportions or the striker-pirate against which the lugs abut, and theminimum opening between the jaws is sufficient to allow of the pointedend of the dowel pin entering as the door is being closed. Conveniently,the portions of the strikerplate are formed with aligned relativelylarge holes 27 of which the centre line of th space between the jaws isa diameter. When the dowel has been entered through these aligned holes,expanding the jaws as necessary, and when these have retracted to engagethe oppositely-arranged notches, a certain amount of lateral movement isallowed to the dowel and jaws in unison relatively to thestriker-plateor in other words between the door and the door-post-suchmovement being limited either by the stops aforesaid or by the dowelengaging the margin of the opening in the striker-plate. In thearrangement illustrated such movement is in a horizontal direction. Upand down movement can be provided by the dowel being of smaller diameterthan the holes 2'7 in the striker-plate and by the width of 30 the jawsextending right across the holes, also as illustrated.

The notches may be V-shaped ones, the retaining wall being atright-angles to the dowel axis and the other inclined thereto, in whichcase each of the jaws is preferably bevelled on one side in acorresponding manner, as shown in the drawing.

To release the door the handle is turned to cause a portion of theperiphery 28 of the dowel that is not notched to engage the jaws, thusspreading them apart, whereupon the dowel can be withdrawn.

It will be seen that the present invention provides an easy-acting lockallowing of movement in any direction in the vertical plane, as not onlydo the jaws float but the dowel can move relatively to the At the sametime, owing to the arrangement of the parts, there is no likelihood ofthe dowel becoming inadvertently released from the jaws when movementoccurs between the door and the door-post.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States 1. In a lock having a rotatable notched dowel, a pairof movable jaws spring-pressed towards one another, and stops limitingthe movement of said jaws, one of said jaws comprising a dowel engagingmember, guide means carried by said 110 member, a spring engaging lugsecured to said guide means, the other jaw slidingly engaging said guidemeans, and a spring engaging lug carried by said other jaw.

2. A lock comprising a striker-plate, a pair of jaws, one of said jawsbeing formed by one edge of a hollow rectangle which is slidinglymounted in said striker-plata the other of saidjaws being formed on apart slidingly mounted in the interior of said hollow rectangle,outstanding lugs formed on the jaw parts to co-operate with stopsprovided by said striker-plate to limit the movement of said jaws, and acompression spring acting to press said lugs away from one another andsaid jaws towards one another.

3. A lock comprising a hollow striker-plate the interior of which has apair of parallel longitudinal sides, a hollow rectangular part slidinglymounted in said striker-plate to be guided by said parallel sides, asecond part slidingly mounted in said hollow rectangular part to beguided thereby, said parts having facing knife-like edges formed onthem, outstanding lugs formed on said parts away from said knife-likeedges, said lugs extending through an opening in the wall of saidstriker-plate, compression spring means acting between said lugs to biasthem towards the adjacent edges of said opening respectively, and afurther opening through opposite walls of said striker-plate in thevicinity of said knife-like edges.

4. In a look including a striker plate and a rotatable notched dowel, apair of opposed movable jaws, means for slidably mounting one of saidjaws on the other of said jaws, a pair of lugs carried one by each ofsaid jaws and disposed in spaced relation to each other, and a springengaging said lugs to constantly urge said jaws toward each other.

ALLAN RILEY. HARRY RUSH.

